America has seen many wars from The Revolutionary War to The Iraq but one war that affected America greatly was the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was an armed conflict between the communist North Vietnam and it allies, who were known as Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its ally, The United States. The United States got involved in this conflict between North and South Vietnam because the communist North Vietnam was aiming the reunite Vietnam and the US stepped in because they wanted to stop the spread of communism. It affected the United States socially because the population was split virtually in half between two social groups, new pieces of legislation were written because of it, and the war as a whole was very costly in terms of money and loss of life on both sides.
The Vietnam War has been recorded in US History as the 3rd most costly armed conflict that the United States has ever been involved in. This cost of this war was not only made by spending on military campaigns, weapons, and resources for the troops that had been stationed in Vietnam, but also the loss of life and the future earnings of the soldiers who lost their lives. In the fiscal year of 1965, the United States spent approximately 103 million dollars were spent on military campaigns in Southeast Asia. By the fiscal year 1968, United States Department of Defence spending had amounted to 26.8 billion dollars and up to 81.4 billion dollars by July of 1969. This would be worth approximately 814 billion dollars in 2018 if inflation is taken into account. By the end of the war in 1975, the United States Department of Defence had spent approximately 141 billion dollars on the military campaign in Vietnam. This would be equivalent to approximately 670 billion dollars by today’s standards. However as stated earlier, the cost of the Vietnam War was not accumulated by United States military spending alone, loss of productive lives as well as future earnings of soldiers who lost their lives in Vietnam were taken into account as well. In 1965, the projected future earnings of the soldiers who lost their lives amounted to 1 billion dollars which would be equal to approximately 8 billion in 2018. In 1969 the expected earnings of US soldiers who died had been calculated to be around 9.6 billion which would be equal be equal to approximately 66 billion by today's standards. These future earnings would have done so much to help the United States economy because over the years that these soldiers had accumulated these earnings, they would have paid taxes. This would have helped alleviate some of the sheer cost that the United States Department of Defence had racked up over the course of this conflict. Not only would these future earnings be forgone, but the economy would have seen a productivity increase in the years after the war. Since most of the troops who fought in Vietnam were very young, they would have been able to work jobs at the conclusion of the war. A great number of these lives were sadly cut short which decreased the size of the workforce and in turn decreased the output and overall productivity of the nation's economy. The cost of the Vietnam War was very substantial in terms of sheer spending, loss of life and future earnings but as George Iden stated this cost “could conceivably double or triple the estimated human resource” cost if people who were left disabled after the conflict were taken into account. These Veterans who were left disabled after the conflict may not have been able to work because of their injuries. This would forfeit even greater numbers of future earning as well as decreasing numbers of able-bodied persons in the workforce, and further decreasing the output and efficiency of the United States economy. Many would believe by today's standards that the Vietnam War was not very costly because they would only take into account the spending portion of it. In reality, the Vietnam War costed the US greatly in not only spending, but in loss of productive human lives, the future earnings that were forfeited, and a boost to economic output that could not be seen of the decreased number of able-bodied persons in the workforce.
As Benjamin Frankel stated, “no other issue of US foreign policy has been more controversial and emotionally charged than the US involvement in the Vietnam War”. The Vietnam War can be viewed as one of the most divisive wars in United States history because the American people had their own viewpoints about US involvement and had no problem expressing them freely. Over the course of the conflict, a debate between two groups known as the “hawks” and the “doves” would envelop the United States. The Doves were the group that did not advocate US involvement in Vietnam and were opposed to war and violence as a whole. On the other side of the debate were the Hawks who believed that US involvement in the conflict was necessary and advocated for military action. Both sides of this debate claimed they knew what was right and both sides held non violent protests in order to get their point across. While the debating never lead to any sort of physical fighting between the two groups, that doesn’t change the fact that it was the most divided the United States had ever been on any issue. One event that happened during the course of the war that can only be described as an atrocity was the My Lai Massacre. This occured when a battalion of US troops murdered a large number of men, women, and children at the vietnamese village of My Lai because Viet Cong were allegedly living there. Details of this event were originally hidden from the public eye but as first hand accounts and pictures reached public view, even greater debate was sparked between the Doves and Hawks. Ronald Haeberle, a United States army photographer was there and has first hand descriptions of the actions of the soldiers at My Lai. Ronald described how there were a mix of vietnamese men, women, and children walking when “all of a sudden the GIs just opened up with M16s” on the people and even goes into detail about how even amongst “the M16 fire, they were shooting at people with M79 grenade launchers”. Along with the photographer’s description, an 8 year old survivor of the massacre named Tuyet detailed how his entire family was killed in the massacre and how he was thrown “in a ditch full of dead bodies” and was “covered with blood and brains”. Other account detail how “soldiers allegedly tossed hand grenades into hovels” while shooting at children. When the news of the massacre reached the public ear, reactions to it were incredibly mixed, even amongst supporters of the war. Many people did not even believe that such things were even possible until they had access to Ronald Haeberle’s full color images of the massacre. As the American public came terms with the event, a great sense of disgust and appaul spread throughout the United States. Even supporters of the war on the side of the hawks were disgusted and outraged at the events but were more accepting of them than the Doves. The Doves were immediate to condemn the atrocity and saw it as another reason why the United States should decrease or completely cease all involvement in the conflict. On the other side, the Hawks were much more forgiving saying that it only took place because of “the tragic actions of a few misguided criminals” and that it didn’t represent the true nature of the war. Some people even made the claim the events at My Lai never happened and that “the GIs and their comrades were being used as scapegoats” in order to bolster the argument of the Doves. Other pro-war advocates even presented the argument that since the GIs “rooted out a village full of Viet Cong and Viet Cong sympathizers, that they even acted heroically”. Later in a poll conducted by Time-Louis Harris, it was shown that 60 percent of Americans agreed the massacre was merely “an unfortunate part of the war” and not a criminal act as the Doves made it out to be. One soldier named Gary Roschevitz who partook in the mass murder even bragged about how he allegedly “fired at least 2 rounds from his M79 grenade launcher into a group of prisoners consisting of men, women, and children” as well using another soldier’s weapon to shoot 5 vietnamese prisoners and no one was reported to have resisted his actions. News this massacre reaching the public fueled the fires of debate between the pro and anti war activists and damaged the reputation of the United States government and the way its military operations are conducted. The Vietnam War was such a controversial issue of foreign policy in the US at that time that it even sparked emotion and reaction from the young people and students of the United States at the time. Students and young people never really had a significant role in United States politics before the 1960’s started. This was due to the fact that there were only 2 million students in the US at the time and not many of them were of age to vote. However as college enrollments increased and numbers of students increased, students became one of the most influential voices for social change in America. In 1960, the Students for a Democratic Society was formed but the group with around 300 students and they had virtually no voice. As the years went on, the group would gain a great following, accumulating thousands more members, and becoming one of the most important voices for reform in the United States.
As a result of the Vietnam War, new pieces of legislation such as the War Powers Act were created and new rules were set in place to limit the power of what the president could do in wartime situations. These rules were put into place because there was a great amount of controversy stirring around how President Richard Nixon conducted foreign policy and military campaigns during armed conflicts. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 or more simply put, the War Powers Act, was introduced to Congress by New York Senator Jacob Javits and it outlined a set of parameters that a conflict had to follow in order for the Commander-in-chief to make use of United States armed forces. The codes of the War Powers Act went as follows, it “requires that the president consult with Congress before military forces are sent into combat abroad, or to areas where hostilities are likely, and to report in writing within 48 hours after troops are deployed. The president must then terminate use of military force within 60 to 90 days. The deployment can continue for another 60 days, and for another 30 beyond that if the president certifies to Congress in writing that the safety of the force so requires. Unless Congress authorizes a continuation through a declaration of war, a concurrent resolution, or other appropriate legislation, the deployment cannot be continued beyond 90 days.” These rules were put in place because President Richard Nixon was given nearly full power to conduct military operations and did so by his rather indiscriminate deployment of United States GIs. This loose use of military power forced many young fighting-age men to enlist in the draft which of course affected them because some of did not want to go to war and would not come back from overseas. Nixon attempted to veto the bill because he deemed it unconstitutional but his administration was so wrapped up in the Watergate Scandal that he possessed little to no influence over Congress. Other bills such as the Cooper-Church and Hatfield-McGovern amendments were introduced to Congress in 1970. These bills were attempts to cut funding for conflict and force the United States to pull its armed forces out of Vietnam. These bills were not successful and ended getting defeated by both houses. The Vietnam War greatly affected the way that the United States conducts its foreign policy even to this day. It also brought to light the flaws that the United States military as well the executive branch had when it came to waging war. The way the United States handled conflict would certainly be different today had the Vietnam War never happened.
The Vietnam War was a true eye opener to the American public about the nature of an overseas conflict. The conflict divided America in half, forced new laws to be passed and virtually destroyed a presidency. It caused such a incredible amount of controversy that pro and anti war activists alike had to take a step back to really grasp the scale of the war. The atrocities committed overseas made the American people lose almost trust in the government and how they conducted foreign policy. It sparked a fire in young people and students to stand up and make themselves a voice for change. On top of that it costed America greatly. Great expenses were generated in order to fight the war and casualties of the war took a great toll on what the economy could have been due to foregone earnings. Not only did the war cost the United States greatly, what was gained in return for everything that was lost?